This invention pertains to labels and, more particularly, to a package and method for dispensing labels.
In the pharmaceutical industry, it is important to deter and prevent tampering of pills and other medicine being transported, stored and dispensed, as well as to correctly identify the contents of the bottles and other containers in which the pills or other medicine are contained. To this end and in effort to control and secure the safe labeling of pharmaceutical bottles and other containers, pharmaceutical companies and suppliers have requested special packaging and labels to identify bulk bottles containing large amount of pills or other medicine, as well as to provide pharmacists with a tamper-resistant, piggyback packaging of additional labels for use by the pharmacist when the pharmacist repackages the pills or other medicine into smaller bottles and containers for sale to customers (patients).
Over the years many different types of labels have been developed for different industries: labels that have to be glued, taped, or stapled onto an object, preglued labels which adhere to an object after being moistened, self-sticking adhesive labels, etc.
Labels can be stored and dispensed from a roll, a box, and other types of packages. Often such packages are bulky, awkward, difficult to use, and not tamper resistant.
Typifying some of the many types of prior art labels and packaging are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,583,763; 4,660,956; 4,711,686; and 4,747,618. These prior art labels and packaging have met with varying degrees of success.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved label-containing package which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.